


For the Greater Good

by KippyVee



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Episode: s05e18, Grace's Unanswered Question
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-13
Updated: 2015-03-13
Packaged: 2018-03-17 15:52:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3535247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KippyVee/pseuds/KippyVee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Grace asked Steve if Danno had really killed someone, Steve didn't say 'yes' but he also didn't say 'no' ... so she's pretty sure the answer is 'yes'.  But she wants to ask her Danno about it because she knows he'll tell her the truth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For the Greater Good

**Author's Note:**

> The only fanfic I've ever posted was set in the late 19th century so a modern day Five-0 story is a first for me. This is a scene I would have liked to see in the actual episode. I don't think I'd have posted this without the encouragement of teeelsie and I'm most appreciative of her thoughts, comments and suggestions that helped me put the finishing touches on this.

Danny didn’t realize he was awake until he heard the click of the bedroom door opening. A moment later he felt the bed dip as someone quietly stretched out on the opposite side and only then did he open his eyes and start to roll towards them.

"Ohhhh…" he groaned, closing his eyes and settling onto his back again as the pain from multiple broken ribs ignited a fire in his side.

A whispered voice, close to his ear, asked, "Can I get you anything to make you feel better, Danno?"

"Hey, Monkey, having trouble sleeping?" his voice was hoarse and he tried to clear his throat.

She giggled and he could feel the mattress shift as she rolled off the bed. She pushed open his curtains and told him, "It’s morning, Danno. And Uncle Steve said it was time for your medicine if you were awake. Do you want me to get it?"

"Don’t you have to get ready for school?" he asked through a yawn.

"Daddy! It’s Saturday!" she rejoined him on the bed.

"Is it?" he opened his eyes again and turned his head to look at her, careful not to shift any more than he had to. "I guess I’ll let you stay home today, then. What is Steve doing here?"

"He’s been here ever since you got home. Remember? He’s staying in the guest room to help me take care of you."

"Of course he is," Danny nodded. He hadn’t actually remembered that. He knew Steve had been there several times when he’d awakened but it was hard to keep track of what was going on when the days all kind of faded into each other.

"Uncle Steve said the doctor said you could get up today. He said your three days of bed rest are up … but you still have to relax. He’s making bacon and eggs for breakfast and said you and I can have breakfast in bed together. Then he’s going to help you take a shower and get dressed."

"So he’s got it all planned, huh?"

"Mm-hm," she nodded. "He said you’d be wide awake because you didn’t wake up at all during the night … and he was right! I’ll go tell him you’re awake now and get your medicine," she leaned over and gave him a kiss before scooting off the bed and slipping out of the room through the half-open door.

Saturday? It was Saturday already? It had been just over a week ago, on Friday morning, when he’d been arrested for murder in front of Grace’s class. By the end of that day, he’d pretty much given up the thought of ever seeing his daughter again as he was on his way to Colombia. He hadn’t expected any kind of trial once he got there and they certainly hadn’t disappointed him in that regard. After a ten-hour flight, he’d been taken directly, under guard, to a prison like none he’d ever seen. That had been just a week ago today. He still wasn’t entirely clear about what Steve had done to get him out of there in only a day’s time but he vaguely remembered hearing talk about some sort of covert operation and knew he also had Kono and Lou, as well as Joe White and Frank Bama, to thank for his freedom.

The same men who’d delivered him to the prison unexpectedly returned to pick him up and he was only too happy to go with them. At the time, of course, he didn’t know anything about that covert operation and that he’d soon be leaving Colombia. He’d been battered and kicked in so many places that he almost didn’t care what they were planning to do with him; he was just glad to be leaving, even if it turned out to be only a temporary reprieve. He tried questioning them but he remembered little of his high school Spanish and the men either didn’t speak English or they didn’t care to speak to him. So he didn’t actually know until he got to the airport that they were putting him back on a plane to return to Hawaii.

A ‘spook’ … Mike was the only name he gave … was waiting to escort him home. They let him clean up a bit and someone gave him a sandwich that they told him to eat so he could take the pain pills someone else handed him. He swallowed the pills as soon as Mike told him they were ready to board the plane, hoping by the time they got to cruising altitude, he’d be soundly asleep. He was surprised to find that they were flying first class and a pillow and blanket were waiting for him. He couldn’t help wondering what Steve could have done to make this all happen. He had absolutely no doubt that if he was really heading home, it was because of Steve.

It was almost noon on Monday when they landed in Honolulu and Steve was waiting for him. He took him first to see Grace and then straight to the hospital, despite his protests. He was kept overnight and then again on Tuesday, also under protest, mostly to monitor his kidneys which were clearly damaged in the beatings he took. They sent him home on Wednesday morning with a strict order of three days of bed rest. He really hadn’t kept track of what day it was; the pain pills they prescribed had made that easy. Any time he woke up, someone was there to give him something to eat and then a couple of pills to take and he’d soon be back asleep. He remembered Steve, of course, but maybe Kono had been there and he even thought that he remembered Renee Grover being there at least once. And at some point he listened to his daughter reading to him … but he didn’t remember the words; all he remembered was the soothing sound of her voice.

He’d been a bit more awake last night when Steve tried to give him yet another pain pill but Danny told him that he wanted something you could buy off the shelf in any drug store. Steve had given him a double dose of Advil and it had easily been enough to get him to sleep. So, if he’d now done his three days of bed rest, that meant today really was Saturday. And, despite the pain that made him not want to move, he finally felt awake for the first time since Steve had taken him to the hospital.

Steve backed into the room, pushing the door fully open and carrying a tray filled with food, while Grace followed him carrying two glasses of orange juice that she set on the nightstand. Steve set the tray on the dresser then came over to help him sit up, arranging the pillows against the headboard, and then helping him scoot back so he was sitting up as comfortably as possible. The whole process took a couple of minutes and wasn’t nearly as easy as it should have been.

Grace waited until he was settled before she arranged her own pillows and sat down next to him, just enough room left that Steve could lay the tray between them.

"Aren’t you joining us?" Danny asked when he saw only two plates on the tray.

"No, I thought I’d give you two some privacy to talk. It’s the first time in a few days that you’ve looked at me like you actually know who I am," he joked, "so I thought you two might want to catch up on things … discuss anything that might be on your mind."

"Okay…" Danny said, but it sounded more like a question. Like Steve was trying to tell him something … something he should remember … but he didn’t.

Steve closed the door as he left and that, too, made Danny wonder what he was missing. Why did they need privacy to talk when he was expecting to hear only the sort of news that Grace usually shared with both him and Steve?

They ate in silence for a couple of minutes before he asked, "Did your mother go back to Las Vegas?"

"She left on Thursday night. She said she trusted Uncle Steve to see that I got to school on Friday and was picked up at the end of the day."

"And did he do that?"

"Well … he made sure that Kono got me to school on time. And Aunt Renee brought me home. He mostly stayed here to take care of you but Aunt Renee stayed while he went out grocery shopping. I think we might be having a barbeque tonight … or maybe tomorrow," she suggested.

"It’ll be nice to see everyone. I think I owe everyone a very big thank-you," he told her. "So tell me what you did in school this week."

She did most of the talking as they ate, filling him in on school, cheerleading, shopping with Kono … all the usual things that they really didn’t need privacy to talk about. He listened and nodded and asked a couple of questions and he was pretty sure that not a single detail about her week had been left out.

But then she was quiet for a moment and he looked over to see that she seemed to be studying the last bit of food on her plate. At the very least, he thought, she was deliberately not looking at him when she said softly, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course you can, Monkey. You know you can ask me anything."

She looked up at him. "Well, it’s about … when you were arrested. I know you were taken away somewhere and Uncle Steve promised he’d bring you home … and then you did come home. But … if they let you come home after they arrested you for murder … Danno, did you really kill someone? Or did they find out it was a mistake?"

"Oh, Monkey, that’s complicated…" Danny breathed out.

"That’s what Uncle Steve said," she sighed and almost rolled her eyes. "He didn’t say yes but he didn’t say no … so I thought that meant yes. But then you came home. So did you?"

She looked at him unblinkingly, her brown eyes staring into his blue eyes.

Now he remembered that Steve had mentioned that she’d asked him. He should have considered how to respond to her but hadn’t really had the time to think about it clearly. He had to tell her the truth so he took a deep breath and slowly nodded. "Yes," he said, "I did."

He saw the beginning of tears but she managed to hold them back as she asked the same thing she’d asked Steve. "Was he bad?"

"Very bad," Danny said as he pushed the tray towards the foot of the bed. Grace finished the job and Danny was happy that she then snuggled in against his side and allowed him to put his arm around her.

"Who was he?" she asked softly.

"He was the man who killed your Uncle Matt," Danny told her.

"And was he going to kill you, too?"

Danny took a moment to consider his answer before he said, "That’s the complicated part, Monkey. Your Uncle Steve and I took a lot of money down to Colombia because we thought Matty was alive and we were going to pay a ransom for him. After we gave him the money, we found out Matty was dead." There was no way he was going to tell her that he’d been stuffed in an oil drum. "He even kind of laughed about it. About how he’d made me believe that Matty was alive. I never should have believed him," he shook his head. "But I just thought … if I paid him the money, Matty would come back with us and I wouldn’t have to worry about him anymore. And it wasn’t just Matty; he threatened other people … people I love. That’s how he goes through life … he threatens people … kills people … to get what he wants. And, yes, I think he wanted to kill Steve and me."

"So that’s when you killed him?"

"Not … exactly. He told Steve and me that we could leave but he had several men with rifles taking us out. I’m not sure what they were planning but Steve and I didn’t think they were really going to let us leave so we decided to fight them," he explained.

"So it was self-defense?"

"I can only say that we felt threatened by them so I suppose you could argue that it was. But then … I took one of their guns and went back down into the basement."

"After the man who killed Uncle Matt?" she asked.  "Was he trying to get away?"

"No," he shook his head. "He wasn’t trying to get away. He was calling to his men and I think he was pretty surprised that Steve and I were the ones who came down the stairs."

"And then did he try to kill you?"

"No, Monkey, he didn’t." Danny took a deep breath before saying, "He didn’t have a gun. I just … looked at him … and I thought about how he’d killed Matty even though I’d done what he’d asked me to do. And I thought about how he’d threatened those other people … and I knew that no one would be safe … not as long as he was alive."

His voice had gotten husky as he’d told her why he thought he had to do it but he hadn’t yet admitted it. And he knew he had to. So he simply said, "Then I shot him."

He waited for Grace to say something. She was holding his hand and seemed to be studying his palm and he gave her all the time she needed to process what he’d told her.

Finally, after a couple of minutes that seemed like an hour, Grace looked up at him and said, "So it was for the greater good?"

His surprise was evident on his face as he asked, "And … what do you think that means?"

"Well, it’s like Dumbledore said in Harry Potter."

"I don’t remember. You’ll have to refresh my memory," he prompted.

"I’m not sure I remember the exact words but when Dumbledore was young he wrote a letter to Grindelwald about the Wizards having power that gives them the right to rule. But Wizards take control for the greater good. And he said that means when they meet resistance they should use only the force that’s necessary and no more," she explained. "Maybe … when you killed that man … you used only the force that was necessary. If he killed Uncle Matt and threatened … other people … then what you did … was necessary."

He had to ask because he saw it in her eyes. "Do you know who I mean when I say ‘other people’?"

She nodded. "You mean … like Uncle Steve … and Chin and Kono. And Mommy and Charles. And me," she started crying.

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "I’d do anything to keep you safe. Even if it meant I had to go to prison."

She swiped a hand over her eyes then tilted her head to look up at him. "How did you get out of prison then?"

"I’m not really sure about all those details. Uncle Steve knows more about that than I do and I suppose that’s a conversation he and I will have. In the end, though, I guess the people who had the right to put me in prison or let me go decided that the man I killed was an evil man … and not just because of what he did to your Uncle Matt, but because he did a lot of other really bad things. I think maybe they did decide that what I’d done … was for the greater good," he nodded.

Even if he hadn’t yet heard the whole story from Steve, he knew that wasn’t how things had actually happened. But it was the kind of explanation that his daughter could live with. He’d find out all the details at some point but was pretty sure he wouldn’t be sharing them with Grace. As far as she was concerned … it was for the greater good. As conflicted as he’d been about what he’d done … and as sure as he was that he’d deserved what was happening to him … his daughter … and Dumbledore … gave him an explanation that he found he could live with as well.

He felt that last little bit of weight on his shoulders disappear; a weight he’d carried around since he and Steve had returned from Colombia so many months ago. As he hugged his daughter, he had absolutely no doubt that killing Marco Reyes had truly been for the greater good. And believing that was something he could live with.

 


End file.
